Patna High Court on Wednesday admitted the appeal of incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal Lok Sabha member Mohammed Shahabuddin against a Siwan court order, which sentenced him to life imprisonment for kidnapping a CPI-ML worker in 1999.

The court called for the official local court order for deciding the date for hearing. The appeal against the May eight verdict of a special court in Siwan had been filed by Shahabuddin's counsel Rajesh Kumar Singh.

In the petition filed on May 24, the controversial lawmaker from Siwan alleged that the lower court order was unwarranted and that he had been convicted on the basis of the statement of a lone eyewitness who identified him seven years and nine months after the kidnapping of CPI-ML worker Chotelal Gupta.

Shahabuddin had argued that prior to his identification in the court, no test identification parade was held. Additional district and sessions judge Gyaneshwar Prasad Srivastava had on May eight sentenced Shahabuddin to life imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000.

The judge had on May five pronounced him guilty under section 364 (kidnapping or abduction in order to murder) in the case.